Are you interested in throwing away every preconceived notion you have about education?Project Dreamschool may be for you!150 of the world’s leading thinkers from a variety of fields and backgrounds are in the process of designing a school in Holland.They are looking for contributions from anyone who has a good idea.This is an amazing visionary project.

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There is consensus beginning to emerge about how 21st century schools should function. Having spent a great deal of time reading and searching the internet for this information, I present you with the common threads that I have found and consider to be essential to my understanding of how my teaching practice needs to be shaped as well as the foundation upon which it should lie.

2. Teaching needs to be conducted in a way that matches how the brain learns. A great deal of progress has been made in this area. A good place to start exploring this topic is at the following website: Brain Rules. The videos from Brain Rules are entertaining, easy to understand and practical. I do recommend purchasing the book for a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. I will say this: if your students are sitting …. by themselves … at a desk … or on the carpet … most of the day… completing an assignment … that you devised, you may need to change your practice.

4. “Who truly understands how a 21st century classroom should function? Where is the visionary work taking place? Where can I see it happening? The following sites offer a view into 21st century education in action.

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Lots.Lots and lots and lots.Which to some, particularly my children, would be self-evident, but to a teacher, especially one who has been teaching a long time, is problematic. Because there is a great deal that I do know after having been in a classroom for 20 years. The problem is that so much of what I do know about teaching may no longer be relevant.

Anyone who has been teaching in Ontario for the past 5 years, knows one thing for certain. We have been inserviced to death on new teaching methods. Every week we are presented with yet another add-on: data collection, flexible groupings, modelled, shared and guided reading, differentiated instruction, multiple-intelligences, critical literacy, technology integration, data bases, school improvement plans, improving EQAO scores, …. It has reached such a terrible point, that many wonderful, cabable amazing teachers feel incompetent and uncertain and overwhelmed and saddest of all: Ready to Quit.

What should we as teachers be doing? How do we make sense out of all THAT STUFF? How does all THAT STUFF fit together? Why do “they” keep piling on more and more and more? Why do “they” keep asking me to change my practice? I am a good teacher. Students in my class learn. What’s the purpose behind all of this change?

I have come to realize, after a great deal of reflection that education in the 21 century is going to be very different. We are at the floundering about stage of change and no one knows exactly what learning and teaching will look like, but there is a vast, global network of researchers, technology specialists, educators and most importantly of all -students, who are in the process of finding out. And, unless we are prepared to experiment and take risks in our classrooms with what they are telling us, we will not move forward. Our teaching practice will have become irrelevant.

So, as an educator, I am not interested in what I already know about teaching. I will continue to use my well-honed skills as they are necessary. It is what I do not yet know that intrigues and excites me. I feel that I am on the precipice of an incredible canyon and once I jump, I will be in a whole new world of learning. I now belong to a global network of educators who are moving forward – one step behind our students.

This blog and my website (which is underconstruction) will document this process. I will share lessons, ideas, pictures of my classroom, videos – whatever can be shared – to assist and encourage other teachers to make the leap into 21st century learning.

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What does it mean to be a teacher in the 21 century? Teachers in my own board of education have been struggling with this idea for several years. We have had a vast array of new expectations imposed upon us at an incredibly rapid pace. I have seen teachers in tears, teachers who are angry and teachers who are confused. I have been overwhelmed as I have struggled to interpret what it means to be a teacher in the 21 century. Only now am I beginning to develop a clear vision of what needs to happen. It was only when I finally realized that I am not a teacher at all, but a learner on a journey with my students that change could begin. This is requiring me to drop all my preconceived notions (based on 20 years of teaching experience) of what a classroom should look like and how teaching and learning happen. I am looking at teaching with new eyes and I have to say, am very, very excited by what I am seeing! I am inviting you to follow this journey as “we” renivent my classroom.

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About Heidi Siwak

Heidi is a middle school teacher from Ontario, Canada whose innovative work is creating new models of learning. She has been recognized by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada's innovative teachers. Her students undertake original projects that challenge the boundaries of learning and have won national awards. She has been featured on TVO's Learning 2030 series and as a guest blogger. Her blog is carried by CBC's digital media service in Hamilton. Heidi is currently exploring Integrative and Design Thinking and Knowledge Building with her students and has recently begun her MEd in Education Leadership and Policy. Heidi has created Experience the Shift - a series of workshops designed to help participants experience and develop insight about new models of learning. Follow #shiftxp2015 to see its impact.